Bigger, better rooms coming soon for Map Department

Published: June 19, 2003 8:00 PM

Patrons of the Guernsey County Map Department will see a bigger and better office when the map department moves to the Guernsey County Administration Building later this summer.

More space will be the biggest benefit for us and our patrons, said Barb Hough, map department supervisor. Currently, we have five people crammed into this office. When we get to the new building, we will have three times as much room as we do here.

The additional space will make the office more functional for the public, said Hough.

Each of the map department employees will have their own work space at the new office and there will be a counter for public use. Today, the map department is only accessible through the auditors office at the courthouse and work space is limited.

We will each have our own work space and there will be a separate room for the Geographic Information System, said Hough. The GSI guys currently use a cart for one of their two computers. Our work area also doubles as the public area and the limited space makes it hard to find room for large maps and documents.

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We have our copier and aerial maps, because of their size, stored in the hallway. At the new office, they will be moved into a reference room. The reference room will also be used to store old records, maps and books, said Hough.

The map department will be on the administration buildings top floor between the recorders and auditors offices.

Individuals completing real estate transactions can go to the auditors office to us to the recorders office, and we will all be right there in a row, said Hough.

The primary duties of the map department is to provide the auditors office with tax maps and to keep the county maps up-to-date. The office is also involved with deed transfers to ensure description information is correct and assigning house numbers for new homes, which is then provided to the sheriffs office and health department.

Other county offices scheduled to move into the new administration building are the county commissioners, coroner, treasurer, Emergency Management Agency, Board of Elections and Veterans Services, as well as the Cambridge/Guernsey County Visitors & Convention Bureau.

We cant wait to move into the new office, but I am a little sad after being here (in the courthouse) for 27 years, said Hough. We are here to assist the public and the new office will make it easier to work with people.

The Guernsey County Map Department is a division of the county engineers office.